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Author here. I agree that it's more software focussed and I would be adding the role of IP in other industries in my upcoming updates. But, the main reason I

Author here. I agree that it's more software focussed and I would be adding the role of IP in other industries in my upcoming updates. But, the main reason I explicitly didn't go into Biotech/Pharma is because living in India which has been at the receiving end of the US Pharma's patent protections and on the other hand witness generic medicines save lives everyday; I didn't want my biases to affect the content.

DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
Totally understandable. There is a minority of non-CS commenters on HN, so I always try to expand the conversation. Wasn't meant as pejorative. Re your comment on generics saving lives, yea, this is a pickle question between sovereigns in negotiating trade agreements. The US pharmaceutical behemoths make too much money in my opinion. The inability of Medicare to negotiate on drug pricing was an insane give away from Bush that effectively allows drug companies the ability to set their desired profit targets. But with other nations catching up in terms of Quality and manufacturing tech transfers, most small molecules will be easily riffed. The era of blockbuster small molecules is coming to an end with a lot of the space/targets explored. More complicated biological and gene/cell therapies are the next frontier and it's going to be a lot harder to riff these technologies because "the product is the process" a lot of time. It's a lot harder to steal process without hiring know-how.
- Abishek_Muthian 6y ago
  W.r.t India, it has mostly accepted the patent obligations of US Pharma as it gets to export generic medications to US and I think 50% of Indian generic medications get through FDA approval. But this was pre-COVID, not sure how new found gold rush in Pharma industry worldwide would affect the future of Generic medications and patentability of pharma products. It could go either way of improving manufacturing and availability of generic medications (or) Pharma behemoths could take advantage of current situation and derail generic medicine development indefinitely.
  - lowdose 6y ago
    Generics ARPU is still above $300 / year. New generic only requires 24 people to get FDA approval.

DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago

Totally understandable. There is a minority of non-CS commenters on HN, so I always try to expand the conversation. Wasn't meant as pejorative. Re your comment on generics saving lives, yea, this is a pickle question between sovereigns in negotiating trade agreements. The US pharmaceutical behemoths make too much money in my opinion. The inability of Medicare to negotiate on drug pricing was an insane give away from Bush that effectively allows drug companies the ability to set their desired profit targets. But with other nations catching up in terms of Quality and manufacturing tech transfers, most small molecules will be easily riffed. The era of blockbuster small molecules is coming to an end with a lot of the space/targets explored. More complicated biological and gene/cell therapies are the next frontier and it's going to be a lot harder to riff these technologies because "the product is the process" a lot of time. It's a lot harder to steal process without hiring know-how.

Abishek_Muthian 6y ago
W.r.t India, it has mostly accepted the patent obligations of US Pharma as it gets to export generic medications to US and I think 50% of Indian generic medications get through FDA approval. But this was pre-COVID, not sure how new found gold rush in Pharma industry worldwide would affect the future of Generic medications and patentability of pharma products. It could go either way of improving manufacturing and availability of generic medications (or) Pharma behemoths could take advantage of current situation and derail generic medicine development indefinitely.
- lowdose 6y ago
  Generics ARPU is still above $300 / year. New generic only requires 24 people to get FDA approval.